Tour of duty in China part 1

Traveling in China in 1999

People ask me sometimes "How did you get in Thailand?" and I answer "By airplane". But in reality it was a bit more complex, so I did write some postings about that. I did write a few stories with photos about it and I call that Blast from the past. Here are two photos made in Xiahe (China) while on tour in China in 1999. This place was one of the most impressive places to visit during my all 4 weeks tour in China.

Traveling in China in 1999

🌎 Xiahe, Gannan, Gansu, China

Popular posts from this blog

Traveling in Trat province along the Eastern Seaboard

Image
Last year I did make a posting about counting all the provinces I had been in Thailand. And I saw I have been to (stayed in) 48 provinces out of the 76. So in the coming months I will travel via my postings from the most southern province I have been to the most northern province, with some photos and information about each province. Trat province is the most eastern province of the Eastern Seaboard, bordering along Cambodia and Chanthaburi province. The capital town is Trat, for most people famous for the ferry to Koh Chang, Koh Mak and Koh Kuud. In the most southern point of Trat province is the International border crossing Thailand-Cambodia, while along the border with Cambodia are 2 other International borders and a few locals-only borders. Trat province has a huge beautiful coastline that (besides of the islands) is almost not developed.

Personally I came for the first time in Trat province in 1998 when going to Koh Chang. In those days Koh Chang was still very undeveloped and …
Keep reading

Eating seafood along the beach in Chanthaburi province

Image
Going to the beach with my wife means eating seafood, fresh seafood. That started in Pattaya and continued in Chanthaburi. I do not have the names of the restaurants because you could hardly call them a restaurant, but I will give you some location information. And do as we did, just go eat where are the most people eating. All this little places are of course right along the beach and do not have  air-conditioning.
Hat Ao Yang : This is so small you can not miss the 2 restaurants that are there. Small and simple but very good! Hat Chaolao : At the most southern point of the main road, it is the first restaurant about 50m after New Travel Beach Resort.Hat Kung Wiman : Again most southern point of the road along the beach is where are a few sea-side restaurants.

Keep reading

Eating So gooooooood in Phayao

Image
With our friends from Denmark we had a farewell dinner right along Kwan Phayao at So Goooood Restaurant. It is an open-air restaurant in a nice tropical garden overlooking the lake, although they also have a part that in daytime is a coffee shop with air-conditioning. We enjoyed our diner here while listing to soft live music. Wonderfull Thai food, not expensive and fantastic service. Highly recommended for a dinner in Phayao! For more information see Facebook So Good Phayao. Photo above is not mine but taken from their facebook page.

Keep reading

Traveling in Chonburi province along the Eastern Seaboard

Image
Last year I did make a posting about counting all the provinces I had been in Thailand. And I saw I have been to (stayed in) 48 provinces out of the 76. So in the coming months I will travel via my postings from the most southern province I have been to the most northern province, with some photos and information about each province. Chonburi province is the first province along the Eastern Seaboard, the capital town is Chonburi town. The northern side of Chonburi is an industrialised area with Chonburi town, Sri Racha, Leam Chabang harbour and Bo Win. The souther part is mostly famous as Pattaya, Jomtien and Naklua. And nowadays also more Bang Saray and Sattahip (home base of the Royal Thai Navy).

Personally I came to Chonburi province to go for weekend to Bang Seang or Pattaya when I was living in Bangkok begin 2000. In 2002 I moved to Pattaya and lived there for about 9 years and travelled lot in the nearby area. And really there is much more in Chonburi province as what Pattaya i…
Keep reading

Travel Tips : Air Quality by AirVisual

Image
People with intrest in Thailand might have been following the news about the bad air quality in Bangkok. Well that is not only in Bangkok, this is a yearly event in North Thailand during what people now call the burning season (for what conveniently farmers are blamed). So people (me included) are becoming interested in knowing what level of air pollution is in their area. For this I use a app called AirVisual from the company Air Visual. But before you look at this app and start to worry, be sure you understand what you are seeing on this app. I will give an example of Nan province.

When you look up Nan province via this app, then at the moment (6:15am 14 February 2019) you will get an US AQI of 199. This is an international used standard of measuring air quality. This number means that the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups of people (and animals). But how is this number of 119 made? Well in Nan province are 2 stations that measure the air quality, both managed by Air Quality Ma…
Keep reading

A day at Hat Wong Amat in Naklua (Pattaya)

Image
The photos above is what most people think of when you say you are on the beach of Wongamat at Naklua, the northern sub-urb of Pattaya. But if you would look a little bit further you will see there is more to Pattaya as high-rise buildings and crowded beaches. So we had a relax afternoon with friends at a small part of Hat Wong Amat. Actually it is between Hat Wong Amat and Coral Beach. You can enter the beach here via Soi 18 of Naklua road. Following are some photos of the other Pattaya.



Keep reading

A afternoon at Hat Ao Yang in Chanthaburi

Image
One day in busy Pattaya was enough for me so we left as soon as possible for Chanthaburi, to one of the beaches. No planning just following route 36 to Rayong and then Sukhumvit road to Kleang. From there in direction of the coastline behind Chanthaburi town. On recommendations of a friend of us we went for lunch at Hat Ai Yang. And that was a good idea! It is a bit difficult to get there (you will need your own transport) but that is why it still looks like a beach on Koh Samui 30 years ago. There are 2 expensive hotels and 1 simple hotel (but brand new). And of course there are a few seafood restaurants along the beach. Following are a few photos of this hidden gem along the coastline of Chanthaburi province.
Hotels at Hat Ao YangThe Cliff House Ao Yang (with swimming pool) 2.500 - 4.000 THBBamboo Garden House (with swimming pool) 6.000 - 8.000 THBBaan Sunkhita (no swimming pool) 1.000 - 1.500 THB Prices are official rack-rates, booking viaAGODA orBOOKING might be cheaper. The firs…
Keep reading

A day at Hat Chaolao in Chanthaburi

Image
The beaches of Chanthaburi might not be as stunning viewing as the Maldives but they are actually very nice, big and clean. And you will find yourself being one of the few western tourists going there, because yes you will need your own transport. Hat Chaolao is not really off the beaten track, but a Thai tourist destination for in the weekends and school holidays. Along Hat Chaolao are quite a few hotels, some a bit older as Thai tourists come here already more as 20 years. But there are also some newly renovated hotels and even some totally new hotels. Along the main road are a few restaurants, 7-11 and shops. On the north side is Leam Sadet a favourite place for Thai to sit on little matts on the ground in the shade of trees and eat & drink. So that is what we did also. Next to Leam Sadet is a mangrove forrest Kung Krabaen, where you can walk for about 1.5 km thru a mangrove forrest (we did that the next morning). And at the most northern tip of Leam Sadet is Klong Kood where …
Keep reading

The Rice Field Project Part 33 : The cement crew is 99% finished

Image
As part of Living in Thailand, the Rice Field Project follows our journey of buying land, preparing it for building our house and finally building our house. This is part 33, to read the other parts click The Rice Field Project. We bought the land in September & November 2017. The construction of the house started 29 October 2018. The past 3 months the cement crew has been working at our to become house. That is now declared finished and they will go to a new project. Although I am sure we will see them back again as there are some things that still have to be done with cement, but that can only be done after all water-pipes are installed. So now it is time for new crews to arrives for installing the water & electric, installing the ceiling, painting the house, installing the floor tiles and many more things. This will all be different working crews, sub-contractors. Following is a small update & photos.

Status report at 5 February 2019 :
Roof is almost 100% finished, still…
Keep reading